Sportblog + The Question | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog+series/the-question
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Is José Mourinho’s negativity a product of his failure to make it as a player? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/oct/27/jose-mourinho-manchester-united-alienation-philosophy-tactics
Manchester United manager’s often defensive tactics and desire for total control of his players could stem from a sense of being an outsider<p>It is a sad indication of the recent state of Liverpool that over the past couple of weeks they have seemed more significant as a test case for others than in and of themselves. José Mourinho <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2017/oct/14/liverpool-v-manchester-united-premier-league-live" title="">took his Manchester United side to Anfield</a> and, as he waited and waited and waited for the game “to break”, the watching world waited and waited and waited for something vaguely resembling action to break out. It didn’t and the game <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/14/liverpool-manchester-united-premier-league-match-report" title="">finished 0-0</a>. Given Liverpool’s vulnerabilities and given Manchester City’s remarkable form, that felt even at the time like two points needlessly squandered.</p><p>A week later it felt even more like two points handed away as Tottenham Hotspur ruthlessly exploited Liverpool’s defensive problems to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/22/tottenham-hotspur-liverpool-premier-league-match-report" title="">win 4-1 at Wembley</a>. It’s not quite comparing like with like, of course – it will always be harder for United at Anfield than for Tottenham playing at home, even at Wembley – but the comparison still seemed telling, the limitations of an approach that simply waits for a mistake exposed.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/oct/26/tottenham-hotspur-manchester-city-united-rivals-spurs">Tottenham now Manchester City’s biggest threat and can prove it at United | Paul Wilson</a> </p><p>Both at Real Madrid and at Chelsea, Mourinho was accused by players of not organising them enough in an attacking sense</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/oct/27/jose-mourinho-manchester-united-alienation-philosophy-tactics">Continue reading...</a>José MourinhoManchester UnitedFootballSportFri, 27 Oct 2017 11:04:32 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/oct/27/jose-mourinho-manchester-united-alienation-philosophy-tacticsPhotograph: Tom Jenkins for the GuardianPhotograph: Tom Jenkins for the GuardianJonathan Wilson2017-10-27T11:04:32ZThe Question: how do you break down Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/03/massimiliano-allegri-juventus-champions-league-real-madrid
<p>Juve have conceded only three goals in the Champions League all season and Real Madrid must find a way through their central defensive setup in the final</p><p>Scoring goals is not something Real Madrid usually have a problem with. They have scored in every game this season and have not failed to score since <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/apr/26/manchester-city-real-madrid-vincent-kompany-cristiano-ronaldo-kevin-de-bruyne">Manchester City stopped them in the Champions League semi-final last year</a>, a run of 64 games in a row in which they have found the net. If any team can stop them, though, it is Juventus, who have let in only three goals in 12 European games this season and only 27 in 38 in Serie A, and are equally comfortable in either a back three or a back four. So how do you score against Max Allegri’s side?</p><p>The first question, perhaps, is what shape Juve will use. Juve began the season with a back three but seemed to struggle to accommodate two of their new signings, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/02/gonzalo-higuain-juventus-champions-league-final-real-madrid">Gonzalo Higuaín</a> and Miralem Pjanic. From the beginning of December, the 4-2-3-1 became more prominent and, after a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jan/15/juventus-roma-fiorentina-serie-a-roundup">2-1 defeat at Fiorentina with a back three in January</a>, it became the default, producing Juve’s best football of the season.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jun/02/champions-league-final-cardiff-real-madrid-juventus-history-gareth-bale-ronaldo-buffon-alves">Juventus and Real Madrid have a date with destiny in Champions League final | Sid Lowe</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/02/gonzalo-higuain-juventus-champions-league-final-real-madrid">Gonzalo Higuaín out to show Juventus why £75m was money well spent | Paolo Bandini</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/03/massimiliano-allegri-juventus-champions-league-real-madrid">Continue reading...</a>Champions LeagueJuventusReal MadridFootball tacticsFootballSportSat, 03 Jun 2017 08:56:59 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/03/massimiliano-allegri-juventus-champions-league-real-madridPhotograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty ImagesJonathan Wilson2017-06-03T08:56:59ZThe Question: have full-backs completed their conversion to full-blown attackers? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/feb/21/the-question-are-full-backs-full-blown-attacking-players-now-chelsea-antonio-conte
<p>Antonio Conte has been praised for his bold use of Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso but history suggests it is part of a wider trend dating back to the 1960s</p><p>Barring an extraordinary collapse, this season’s Premier League title will have been decided at half-time at the Emirates Stadium on 24 September when Antonio Conte moved from a back four to a back three. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/sep/24/arsenal-chelsea-premier-league-match-report" title="">The game was already lost</a> but Chelsea, adapting remarkably swiftly to the new shape, then embarked on their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/dec/31/chelsea-stoke-city-premier-league-match-report" title="">record 13-match winning run</a>.</p><p>It was a change that, rightly, has earned Conte great praise for his decisiveness and his capacity, albeit unhindered by the demands of European football, to instil a new formation. But its radicalness has passed largely unremarked.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/oct/30/antonio-conte-adaptability-helping-chelsea-side-prosper">Antonio Conte’s adaptability is helping his Chelsea side to prosper</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jul/11/history-argentina-germany-world-cup-final-maradona-2014-2010-1986-1990">From the Vault: a brief history of Argentina v Germany at the World Cup</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/feb/21/the-question-are-full-backs-full-blown-attacking-players-now-chelsea-antonio-conte">Continue reading...</a>Football tacticsFootballChelseaAntonio ConteSportTue, 21 Feb 2017 11:00:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/feb/21/the-question-are-full-backs-full-blown-attacking-players-now-chelsea-antonio-contePhotograph: Colorpsort/Rex and Getty ImagesPhotograph: Colorpsort/Rex and Getty ImagesJonathan Wilson2017-02-21T11:00:02ZThe Question: what is a centre-forward? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/nov/03/the-question-what-is-centre-forward
Pep Guardiola’s demands that Sergio Agüero contributes more towards winning the ball back – and it is the same for Diego Costa at Chelsea – shows that the role of the striker is no longer confined to scoring<p>What is a centre-forward? It is a question that is far harder to answer now than it used to be. The suggestion that Pep Guardiola may not be entirely happy with Sergio Agüero seemed at first bizarre. How, realistically, could a player of his ability, his goalscoring capacity – 109 league goals in five seasons at City, despite injuries – be doubted? For a modern striker, though, goals are only part of it.</p><p>“It is not about how many goals he scores because we’re happy with the scoring,” Guardiola said this week. He wanted more all-round contribution. Guardiola may be a unique manager but this is not a unique quirk. Jürgen Klopp has made it fairly clear that goals (not that there have been huge numbers of them recently) are not enough to keep Daniel Sturridge in his Liverpool team. Antonio Conte insists Diego Costa should start the process of winning the ball back. This is the nature of the modern vogue for pressing: scoring goals is no longer enough.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/oct/28/premier-league-vulnerabilities-big-six-manchester-city-united-arsenal-tottenham-chelsea-liverpool">Premier League vulnerabilities add to the intrigue among a putative Big Six | Jonathan Wilson</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/nov/02/sergio-aguero-manchester-city-barcelona-champions-league">Selfless Sergio Agüero lights spark that fires Manchester City to victory | Andy Hunter</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/nov/03/the-question-what-is-centre-forward">Continue reading...</a>Football tacticsFootballSportManchester CityThu, 03 Nov 2016 11:23:41 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/nov/03/the-question-what-is-centre-forwardComposite: BPI/Rex, EPA, Action ImagesComposite: BPI/Rex, EPA, Action ImagesJonathan Wilson2016-11-03T11:23:41ZThe Question: can De Bruyne and Silva prosper in their ‘free No8’ roles?https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/aug/18/the-question-kevin-de-bruyne-silva-free-roles
These are early days at Manchester City for Pep Guardiola but it appears that the manager’s basic template is a 4-1-4-1-cum-W-M formation with the Belgian and Spaniard sharing responsibilities in attacking midfield<p>These are, it must be stressed, very early days. Things will change, things will develop and besides, one of Pep Guardiola’s greatest skills is his protean nature, his capacity and willingness to change approach game by game – something that will be tested by the flood of matches an English season brings. But two games in to his competitive tenure as manager of Manchester City, certain patterns have already begun to emerge.</p><p>The most obvious, perhaps, is the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/13/pep-guardiola-joe-hart-dropped-willy-caballero-manchester-city" title="">dropping of Joe Hart for Willy Caballero</a> with a deal for Claudio Bravo seemingly imminent. Perhaps Hart’s two weak-wristed errors at Euro 2016 played a part in his thinking but the bigger issue appears to be his footwork.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/10/pep-guardiola-manchester-city-barcelona-xavi">Pep Guardiola is a radical who will perfect his ideas at Manchester City | Xavi Hernández</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/17/joey-barton-manchester-city-joe-hart-disgusting-brendan-rodgers-mid-life-crisis">Joey Barton says Manchester City’s treatment of Joe Hart is ‘disgusting’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/aug/18/the-question-kevin-de-bruyne-silva-free-roles">Continue reading...</a>Manchester CityPep GuardiolaFootball tacticsFootballSportThu, 18 Aug 2016 10:10:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/aug/18/the-question-kevin-de-bruyne-silva-free-rolesPhotograph: Robert Ghement/EPAPhotograph: Robert Ghement/EPAJonathan Wilson2016-08-18T10:10:00ZThe Question: was Euro 2016 the death of possession football? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jul/12/euro-2016-death-possession-football
<p>Games of cut-and-thrust, with two teams going at each other, were almost nonexistent as we too often witnessed a slow bicycle race of non-possession</p><p>So, it’s over then, the worst of the 15 European Championships to date, a tournament so bereft of quality that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jul/01/wales-belgium-euro-2016-match-report">Wales’s mildly diverting win over an inept Belgium</a> was raised to the status of minor classic. Of 51 games, perhaps one, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jul/08/germany-france-talking-points-euro-2016-semi-final">France’s victory over Germany</a>, will be remembered by neutrals – and it, in truth, was utterly unrepresentative of the rest of the tournament.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jul/11/euro-2016-fairytales-wales-iceland-defence">Euro 2016: a bloated tournament where dour defence eclipsed the fairytales | Barney Ronay</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jul/11/euro-2016-team-of-tournament">Euro 2016: The Guardian’s team of the tournament</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jul/12/euro-2016-death-possession-football">Continue reading...</a>Euro 2016PortugalFootballSportTue, 12 Jul 2016 08:43:57 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jul/12/euro-2016-death-possession-footballPhotograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty ImagesJonathan Wilson2016-07-12T08:43:57ZThe Question: Klopp v Van Gaal … has Manchester United’s manager been left behind? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/15/jurgen-klopp-louis-van-gaal-manchester-united-liverpool
Liverpool face Manchester United on Sunday in what will be a clash of two managers who started out with similar philosophies but are now very different<p>Jürgen Klopp had warned us what we should expect. As he charged down the touchline on Wednesday evening punching the air and shouting amid the snowflakes after <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/13/liverpool-arsenal-premier-league-match-report-firmino-giroud">Joe Allen’s late equaliser against Arsenal</a>, he was perhaps not merely saluting a hard-earned point but relishing a game that fulfilled his ideal of what football – and specifically English football – should be.</p><p>“I don’t like winning with 80% [possession],” <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/08/jurgen-klopp-liverpool-manager-quotes">he said in 2013</a>. “Sorry, that is not enough for me. That’s not my sport. Fighting football, not serenity football, that is what I like. What we call in German ‘English’: rainy day, heavy pitch, 5-5, everybody is dirty in the face.” OK, it was 3-3 and not 5-5 but everything else in Wednesday’s game against Arsenal fitted: the drama, the energy, the sense of chaos that could be, if not shaped, then at least harnessed by those of sufficient will.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/15/jurgen-klopp-liverpool-alex-ferguson-john-lennon-manchester-united">Jürgen Klopp: ‘Sir Alex Ferguson is the John Lennon of football’</a> </p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/13/louis-van-gaal-paul-scholes-manchester-united-coaching-staff">Louis van Gaal should ask Paul Scholes to be a Manchester United coach</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/15/jurgen-klopp-louis-van-gaal-manchester-united-liverpool">Continue reading...</a>Jürgen KloppLouis van GaalLiverpoolManchester UnitedFootball tacticsFootballSportFri, 15 Jan 2016 11:00:30 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/15/jurgen-klopp-louis-van-gaal-manchester-united-liverpoolComposite: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images; Scott Heppell/APComposite: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images; Scott Heppell/APJonathan Wilson2016-01-15T11:00:30ZThe Question: what is attacking football? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/06/the-question-what-is-attacking-football-jonathan-wilson
Louis van Gaal believes simply having the ball shows ambition but possession, shots on target and even goals aren’t necessarily enough to satiate fans<p>After <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/05/manchester-united-west-ham-premier-league-match-report" title="">Manchester United’s goalless draw with West Ham</a> in December, Louis van Gaal professed himself <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2015/dec/07/louis-van-gaal-manchester-united-west-ham-united-video" title="">baffled by the Old Trafford crowd’s demands</a> for his side to be more attacking. “I don’t understand that they are shouting ‘attack, attack’ because we are the attacking team and not West Ham United,” he said. In doing so, he raised a question that seems fundamental to football and yet is surprisingly hard to answer: what is attacking?</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/03/louis-van-gaal-media-manchester-united">Louis van Gaal: entertaining the media, if not Manchester United’s fans | Barry Glendenning</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/06/the-question-what-is-attacking-football-jonathan-wilson">Continue reading...</a>FootballLouis van GaalManchester UnitedSportWed, 06 Jan 2016 10:00:28 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/06/the-question-what-is-attacking-football-jonathan-wilsonPhotograph: Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty ImagesJonathan Wilson2016-01-06T10:00:28ZThe Question: is the counter-counter more crucial than the counterattack? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/01/the-question-counter-counter-important-counterattack
The ability to stop counterattacks separates Europe’s best teams from the rest. Manchester City’s failure to stop their opponents breaking forward is costing them dearly<p>Pause the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S_D7puL9w0" title="">video of Roma’s goal against Manchester City</a> just as the ball reached Radja Nainggolan and City’s problem is clear. There’s the back four in classic saucer shape, the full-backs slightly advanced of the centre-backs and there, where one of the central defenders should be, is a huge hole into which Francesco Totti is beginning to run. Vincent Kompany is perhaps 10 yards advanced of Martín Demichelis, looking to close Nainggolan down and never getting close enough to him.</p><p>It is easy to criticise Kompany in such a situation – and there is a growing suspicion that he has a tendency to overcommit, going for balls he has no chance of reaching – but in this instance, perhaps, his movement was understandable. After all, Nainggolan played the pass instantly; had he taken a touch, Kompany would probably have got to him and been able to pressure him into returning the ball to his midfield. The question, rather, is why Kompany was pulled forwards, why Nainggolan was left untended in what Ottmar Hitzfeld terms the red zone, that central area 10-30 yards outside the penalty area from which so many goals stem. And to answer that you have to look at the two central midfielders, Fernandinho and Yaya Touré, both of whom were at least 10 yards upfield of Nainggolan.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/01/the-question-counter-counter-important-counterattack">Continue reading...</a>Manchester CityRomaChampions LeagueUefaFootballSportWed, 01 Oct 2014 15:24:47 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/01/the-question-counter-counter-important-counterattackPhotograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action ImagesMan City's Vincent Kompany chases after Roma's Gervinho during their Champions League game at the Etihad. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action ImagesPhotograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action ImagesMan City's Vincent Kompany chases after Roma's Gervinho during their Champions League game at the Etihad. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action ImagesJonathan Wilson2014-10-01T15:24:47ZThe Question: should we expect goals galore at World Cup 2014? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jun/12/world-cup-goals-brazil
The emphasis on a systematic approach to football has made club teams more attacking but World Cup ones more defensive • <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2014/jun/11/-sp-world-cup-goals-golden-boot-scorers-history" title="">Interactive: a history of the Golden Boot at the World Cup</a><p>After the 1990 World Cup had yielded only 2.21 goals per game, Fifa was so concerned that it brought in three points for a win, outlawed the tackle from behind and began the process of liberalising the offside law. The last World Cup produced fewer goals per game than any tournament since 1990, with just 2.27. In terms of tinkering with the laws, though, Fifa has done nothing – although, as the Sunday papers remind us every week, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/08/fifa-sponsors-play-hard-ball-over-world-cup-corruption-allegations" title="">it has not been entirely inactive</a> in the four years since.</p><p>It is not just the endless fight against corruption allegations that has prevented Fifa from taking action, though: there is also the fact that club football suggests there is no need for any tinkering with the laws. The Premier League last season brought an average of 2.76 goals per game, lower than the previous season’s average of 2.80, which in turn was lower than the 2.81 of 2011-12, but the fifth season in a row in which more than 2.7 goals have been scored.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jun/12/world-cup-goals-brazil">Continue reading...</a>World Cup 2014World CupChileGermanyArgentinaNetherlandsFootballSportThu, 12 Jun 2014 09:04:41 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jun/12/world-cup-goals-brazilPhotograph: David Cannon/AllsportEngland's David Platt scores against Belgium in the 1990 World Cup Finals – a tournament that had just 2.21 goals per game. Photograph: David Cannon/AllsportPhotograph: David Cannon/AllsportEngland's David Platt scores against Belgium in the 1990 World Cup Finals – a tournament that had just 2.21 goals per game. Photograph: David Cannon/AllsportJonathan Wilson2014-06-12T09:04:41ZThe Question: is this the end for tiki-taka? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/may/01/the-question-is-this-the-end-for-tiki-taka-football
The success of defensive rigidity and rapid counter-attacks against possession football hints at another tactical evolution<p>People are unhappy. They're unhappy at teams like Bayern Munich who keep the ball, preserving possession and looking to pass opponents into submission, and they're <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/29/jose-mourinho-chelsea-philosopher-critics" title="">unhappy at teams like Chelsea</a> who defend deep, allow opponents to have the ball and try to pick them off on the break. People, over the past fortnight, have declared themselves bored by – and opposed to – both proactive and reactive football.</p><p>That's not actually as contradictory as it sounds. We live in an age of extremes. When Barcelona first started to play tiki-taka under Pep Guardiola, they began to achieve unprecedented levels of possession. For the first time probably since Arrigo Sacchi's Milan almost two decades previously, there was a new philosophy about. This wasn't just a minor tweak of positioning, a tendency for one centre-forward to drop slightly deeper, or for the full-backs to push a bit higher. It wasn't a slight change of shape: it was a whole new style.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/may/01/the-question-is-this-the-end-for-tiki-taka-football">Continue reading...</a>Football tacticsFootballSportBayern MunichBarcelonaThu, 01 May 2014 09:57:31 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/may/01/the-question-is-this-the-end-for-tiki-taka-footballPhotograph: Matthias Schrader/APPep Guardiola has tried to implement tiki-taka at Bayern but found his system ineffective against Real's counter-attacking style. Photograph: Matthias Schrader/APPhotograph: Matthias Schrader/APPep Guardiola has tried to implement tiki-taka at Bayern but found his system ineffective against Real's counter-attacking style. Photograph: Matthias Schrader/APJonathan Wilson2014-05-01T09:57:31ZThe Question: have football teams lost the art of defending? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/27/the-question-lost-art-of-defending-football-tactics-premier-league
More than 2.7 goals a game have been registered in the past four Premier League seasons and a fifth is a distinct possibility<p>There were 42 goals in the Premier League at the weekend, a bumper crop that, with 16 more in five midweek games, took the average goals per game this season to 2.73. With Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge in devastating form, Manchester City hammering teams all over the place and Fulham shipping hatfuls every week, this has felt like a season of glut.</p><p>It is not, though: 2.73 goals is lower than last season's average of 2.80 goals per game in the Premier League, which in turn was lower than the 2.81 of 2011-12. In fact, if things go on as they are, this will be the lowest scoring season since 2008-09. Still, there does appear to be an overall pattern suggesting more goals are being scored. Between 2000-01 and 2008-09, there were no Premier League seasons in which there was an average of more than 2.7 goals per game. This looks like being the fifth in the row that beats that mark.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/27/the-question-lost-art-of-defending-football-tactics-premier-league">Continue reading...</a>Football tacticsPremier LeagueFootballSportThu, 27 Mar 2014 14:07:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/27/the-question-lost-art-of-defending-football-tactics-premier-leaguePhotograph: Nick Potts/PAArsenal's Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker stand dejected after conceding another goal during the 6-0 defeat against Chelsea. Photograph: Nick Potts/PAPhotograph: Nick Potts/PAArsenal's Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker stand dejected after conceding another goal during the 6-0 defeat against Chelsea. Photograph: Nick Potts/PAJonathan Wilson2014-03-27T14:07:00ZThe Question: how can Arsenal's tactics tame Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/feb/18/arsenal-bayern-munich-champions-league-football-tactics
From locating Philipp Lahm to bypassing Bayern's high press, the Champions League challenges facing Arsenal are daunting<p>Perhaps there is some encouragement to be drawn for Arsenal from the fact that last time they played Bayern Munich, they won. Perhaps there is some encouragement to be drawn from the thought that, last season, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/mar/13/bayern-munich-champions-league-match-report" title="">Bayern only beat them on away goals</a>, that no side came as close to eliminating Bayern from the Champions League as they did. But then you think back to the first leg, to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/feb/19/arsenal-bayern-munich-champions-league" title="">Bayern's 3-1 win at the Emirates</a>, and the gulf between the sides becomes obvious. Arsenal have improved since then, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/feb/17/bayern-munich-five-things-pep-guardiola-improve-them" title="">but so too have Bayern and, under Pep Guardiola, they are as tactically flexible as any side in Europe</a>.</p><p>There would be reassurance if you could examine the two legs last year and isolate something Arsenal got wrong in the first leg that they them put right in the second, but the truth is that Arsenal got back into the game primarily because Bayern were complacent. In the first leg, Arsenal suffered in the way they had against Barcelona in two of the previous three seasons: they came up against a side at least as technically good as them who pressed the ball with far more intensity and focus. The first goal, for instance, stemmed from a move that sprouted from Toni Kroos dispossessing Laurent Koscielny just inside the Arsenal half. Come the second leg, some of that energy and discipline had gone and Arsenal found themselves less harassed on the ball.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/feb/18/arsenal-bayern-munich-champions-league-football-tactics">Continue reading...</a>Football tacticsArsenalBayern MunichChampions LeagueEuropean club footballFootballSportTue, 18 Feb 2014 10:53:29 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/feb/18/arsenal-bayern-munich-champions-league-football-tacticsPhotograph: Michael Probst/APBayern's strength is their flexibility: it remains unclear if Mario Mandzukic will play high, or if Philipp Lahm will anchor the midfield. Photograph: Michael Probst/APPhotograph: Michael Probst/APBayern's strength is their flexibility: it remains unclear if Mario Mandzukic will play high, or if Philipp Lahm will anchor the midfield. Photograph: Michael Probst/APJonathan Wilson2014-02-18T10:53:29ZThe Question: what does the changing role of holding midfielders tell us? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/dec/18/question-holding-midfielders-changing-role
From the point of view of tactical evolution this has been the year of the holding midfielder, though the term seems outdated<p>Football is always evolving. It twists and turns, repeats and refines, its progression neither cyclical nor linear. Old traits that seemed forgotten, old ways of playing, crop up again, new contexts giving them new life. Roles divide and sub-divide, occasionally reunifying in startling way. Certain playing styles will remain seemingly inviolate for years, and then suddenly undergo change. From the point of view of tactical evolution, this has been the year of the holding midfielder.</p><p>At first the development from three-band into four-band formations – in England from a 4-4-2 default to a 4-2-3-1 default – led to the obvious splitting of the midfield role. The complete or box-to-box midfielders of the 80s found themselves consigned to a narrower role as midfield was divided into holders and creators. Over time, though, those roles have themselves become more specialised, in part because of the box-to-box players chafing against the restrictions imposed upon them.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/dec/18/question-holding-midfielders-changing-role">Continue reading...</a>Football tacticsSportFootballWed, 18 Dec 2013 10:00:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/dec/18/question-holding-midfielders-changing-rolePhotograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft MediaThe Manchester City partnership of Yaya Touré and Fernandinho shows how outmoded traditional footballing taxonomy has become. Photograph: Barcroft MediaPhotograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft MediaThe Manchester City partnership of Yaya Touré and Fernandinho shows how outmoded traditional footballing taxonomy has become. Photograph: Barcroft MediaJonathan Wilson2013-12-18T10:00:02ZThe Question: do football formations tell the whole story? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/oct/24/formations-tactics-manchester-city
Players and systems tend to be represented as discrete when in fact they are indivisible<p>It is rare that a month goes by without somebody emailing me or tweeting me to point out that John Giles has said on television that it's not the formation that matters but the players. Many seem to offer the line aggressively, as though the assertion somehow invalidates the notion of tactics in football.</p><p>To draw that conclusion, though, is to misunderstand what tactics and formations are, to fall into the trap of thinking that players can somehow be separated from the tactical framework. Nobody ever played a game of football without both players and tactics. It's simply not possible: as soon as there is more than one player, there is necessarily a relationship between them and, however little thought goes into that, that is tactical. But that doesn't mean, as some appear to think, that the formation outweighs the players whose distribution it describes.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/oct/24/formations-tactics-manchester-city">Continue reading...</a>Football tacticsFootballSportThu, 24 Oct 2013 10:01:10 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/oct/24/formations-tactics-manchester-cityPhotograph: Antonio Bat/EPANiko Kovac was crucial to Croatia's success under Slaven Bilic, who set the team up in what can best be described as a 4-1-3-2 formation. Photograph: Antonio Bat/EPAPhotograph: Antonio Bat/EPANiko Kovac was crucial to Croatia's success under Slaven Bilic, who set the team up in what can best be described as a 4-1-3-2 formation. Photograph: Antonio Bat/EPAJonathan Wilson2013-10-24T10:01:10ZThe Question: why did Andros Townsend thrive against Montenegro? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/oct/14/the-question-andros-townsend-england
Was it the Spurs man's natural ability, his partnership with Kyle Walker, Roy Hodgson's tactics, or Gareth Bale's sale?<p>For a game we keep on being told is simple, football has proved remarkably resistant to analysis over the past 150 years. As those who scorn the sport are fond of pointing out, it is just 22 men trying to kick a ball between a couple of pairs of sticks and yet, as is acknowledged by Chris Anderson and David Sally, the authors of The Numbers Game, an investigation into the use of data in football, in terms of applying statistical methodology to understanding it, we are now only at the level doctors using leeches were in understanding medicine. Football may be a simple game but understanding it is astonishingly complex.</p><p>And that, perhaps, is the secret of the game's popularity: it can be grasped by all and yet nobody fully understands it. Every answer simply leads to another question. Take, for example, Andros Townsend's performance against Montenegro on Friday night. A number of tweeters made the point that, however you analysed the game tactically, he won the game by his willingness to run at the Montenegro defence. To which, the answer is twofold: isn't running part of tactics, and why was he able to run?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/oct/14/the-question-andros-townsend-england">Continue reading...</a>EnglandFootballWorld Cup 2014 qualifiersFootball tacticsSportMon, 14 Oct 2013 10:35:36 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/oct/14/the-question-andros-townsend-englandPhotograph: Jonathan Brady/PAAndros Townsend played with a sense of liberation rare for England players and proved a real handful for Montenegro's defence. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PAPhotograph: Jonathan Brady/PAAndros Townsend played with a sense of liberation rare for England players and proved a real handful for Montenegro's defence. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PAJonathan Wilson2013-10-14T10:35:36ZThe Question: what were the tactical trends of 2012-13? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/may/28/tactical-trends-2012-13
Bayern Munich have built on Barcelona's tiki-taka in a season of forward thinking and creative holding<p>"The point of training," César Luis Menotti said, "is to increase the speed at which one can be precise." It is a truth that seems written into the internal rhythms of football: each new form is developed and modified, made faster, until it reaches a maximum pace at which a new innovation arises to replace it. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/may/25/bayernmunich-borussiadortmund" title="">What Bayern Munich have done this season</a> is to take the Barcelona model and to improve it, not so much with technical innovation than with physical.</p><p>Barcelona were the first team fully to exploit the possibilities of the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2010/apr/13/the-question-why-is-offside-law-genius" title="">modified offside law</a>. It stretched the effective playing area, giving players more space, decreasing physical contact and so readmitting small, technically accomplished players to the game. With fouls increasingly drawing cards, it meant that the likes of Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and Lionel Messi could thrive playing a possession-based passing game that they coupled with a stifling pressing enabled by their supreme fitness.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/may/28/tactical-trends-2012-13">Continue reading...</a>Football tacticsBayern MunichBarcelonaChampions LeagueBorussia DortmundEuropean club footballFootballSportTue, 28 May 2013 09:30:38 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/may/28/tactical-trends-2012-13Photograph: Getty Images/PA/Action ImagesBayern have added physicality to Barça's style, the old-fashioned striker is back and the holding player is still important. Photograph: Getty Images/PA/Action ImagesPhotograph: Getty Images/PA/Action ImagesBayern have added physicality to Barça's style, the old-fashioned striker is back and the holding player is still important. Photograph: Getty Images/PA/Action ImagesJonathan Wilson2013-05-28T09:30:38ZThe Question: what is the relationship between players and tactics? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/apr/10/th-question-players-tactics-jonathan-wilson
Can players ever be freed from tactics? Or are players instead governed by their manager's strategy?<p>A few weeks ago, on a stage in Milan, I found myself being asked by a senior official from the Italian football federation (FIGC) whether we'd ever see football again in which players were freed from tactics and could just play. It was an awkward moment. The lights were bright, I was working through a translator and in the front row Demetrio Albertini, Ferran Soriano and Adriano Galliani were staring at me.</p><p>I wasn't quite sure I'd understood the question correctly. I'm aware that words don't necessarily map exactly from one language to another and this clearly wasn't an occasion to go off-piste and risk upsetting anybody – particularly when I wasn't quite sure I could articulate what I thought (which is another way of saying that the thought itself wasn't articulate). So I mumbled some guff about how the players are the tactics and the tactics are the players and when the translator nudged me I shut up. But the issue the question had raised is pertinent. I've been aware of it for years; a nebulous, unnerving presence, always waiting, always avoiding being directly addressed. It is perhaps the most fundamental question of all: what are tactics?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/apr/10/th-question-players-tactics-jonathan-wilson">Continue reading...</a>Football tacticsBorussia DortmundMálagaFootballSportWed, 10 Apr 2013 11:18:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/apr/10/th-question-players-tactics-jonathan-wilsonPhotograph: Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty ImagesDortmund coach Jürgen Klopp celebrates with his players after their dramatic Champions League win. Photograph: Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty ImagesDortmund coach Jürgen Klopp celebrates with his players after their dramatic Champions League win. Photograph: Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty ImagesJonathan Wilson2013-04-10T11:18:01ZThe Question: How is the playmaker role changing? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/apr/04/playmaker-toni-kroos-mesut-ozil
This week has shown why Wesley Sneijder is the past, Mesut Ozil is the present and Toni Kroos is the future<p>Perhaps no position is undergoing such evolution so rapidly as the playmaker – or, as it is probably more accurate to call him in his present guise, the creative midfielder. This week, the Champions League quarter-finals seemed almost to showcase the changing interpretations of the position – albeit in the most modern case in unfortunately truncated form.</p><p>After their <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/apr/02/bayern-munich-juventus-champions-league" title="">thoroughly empathetic 2-0 win over Juventus</a> this week, there can have been only two niggles for Bayern Munich: first that they only scored twice having dominated so utterly, and second that Toni Kroos's muscle tear will keep him out for six weeks.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/apr/04/playmaker-toni-kroos-mesut-ozil">Continue reading...</a>Champions LeagueFootballBayern MunichBundesligaReal MadridLa LigaGalatasaraySportChampions League 2012-13Mesut OzilThu, 04 Apr 2013 09:32:59 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/apr/04/playmaker-toni-kroos-mesut-ozilPhotograph: Alberto Estevez/EPAReal Madrid's Mesut Ozil must always be mindful of where Cristiano Ronaldo is on the pitch. Photograph: Alberto Estevez/EPAPhotograph: Alberto Estevez/EPAReal Madrid's Mesut Ozil must always be mindful of where Cristiano Ronaldo is on the pitch. Photograph: Alberto Estevez/EPAJonathan Wilson2013-04-04T09:32:59ZThe Question: is the away-goals rule counterproductive? | Jonathan Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/mar/13/the-question-football-away-goals
If it generated good football, made games more exciting, then perhaps the inherent illogicity of the rule could be tolerated<p>Imagine that on Tuesday night, rather than playing that late free-kick short so Milan lost possession and conceded a fourth goal, Robinho had hurled it into the box. Imagine Philippe Mexès had jumped for it, the ball had taken the merest brush off his pony-tail and that had been enough to take it past Victor Valdés. That would have made it 3-1 on the night, 3-3 on aggregate and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/mar/12/barcelona-milan-champions-league" title="">Milan would have beaten Barcelona on the away goals rule</a>.</p><p>Except they wouldn't really have beaten them, would they? They'd have gone through by an arbitrary regulation so familiar that we tend just to accept it. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/mar/12/schalke-galatasaray" title="">Or take the other game</a>: at 0-0 Schalke were going through on away goals, at 2-2 Galatasaray were; two level scores, two different outcomes. In the end, of course, Umut Bulut's goal gave Galatasaray a 4-3 aggregate win – but his goal came about because Schalke had committed players upfield as they knew they were going out on away goals.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/mar/13/the-question-football-away-goals">Continue reading...</a>FootballEuropean club footballFootball politicsSportWed, 13 Mar 2013 10:31:21 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/mar/13/the-question-football-away-goalsPhotograph: Ivan Sekretarev/APNewcastle's Danny Simpson heads the ball during the goalless Europa League first leg with Anzhi. But if a defensive slip-up costs them an early goal in the return match, why should they have to score two to avoid going out? Photograph: Ivan Sekretarev/APPhotograph: Ivan Sekretarev/APNewcastle's Danny Simpson heads the ball during the goalless Europa League first leg with Anzhi. But if a defensive slip-up costs them an early goal in the return match, why should they have to score two to avoid going out? Photograph: Ivan Sekretarev/APJonathan Wilson2013-03-13T10:31:21Z